Burning waste to create electricity makes environmental and economic sense. Importing a lot of waste to burn a small portion of it, which Maine is increasingly doing, reduces the benefits. Lawmakers and state officials, by assessing the true costs and clearly defining what can and cannot be landfilled in Maine, can ensure the benefits continue to outweigh the negative consequences.

Construction and demolition debris and biomass boilers have gotten a lot of attention lately because of a complex deal involving the state takeover of a former paper mill landfill in Old Town and the installation of a biomass boiler at the former Georgia-Pacific mill there. The landfill is meant to ensure that Maine continues to have a place to dump its waste and the boiler was supposed to produce lower-cost electricity to help the paper mill stay in business.

A recent state law limits biomass boilers to burning no more than 50 percent construction and demolition debris. The other fuel is often wood chips, which are more expensive. The Blue Ribbon Commission on Solid Waste Management recently voted 4-2 to recommend lifting the cap, allowing boilers to burn 100 percent construction and demolition debris.

Lawmakers need more information before they can consider lifting the cap. Rep. Bob Duchesne, chairman of the commission, voted against lifting the cap because he is concerned how much debris will be brought into Maine to fuel the boilers. Because only about 20 percent of the debris is burned and a small amount is recycled, the rest ends up in Maine landfills, he said.

The best way to solve this, while allowing the continued, and perhaps expanded, use of the debris to produce energy, is to ensure that what is brought into Maine is burnable and will not end up in a landfill.

New rules from the Department of Environmental Protection set standards for what type of material can be burned and require sampling to monitor for contaminants emitted into the air.

While these rules will help protect air quality, they do not address what happens to the debris that can’t be burned. An analysis to determine the cost of landfilling the residue left after sorting out the fuel from the non-recyclable and burnable demolition debris would help policymakers know whether the electricity generated is worth the additional landfill costs.

Further, lawmakers should consider allowing only debris that can be burned in Maine to be brought into the state. Currently, waste that is processed in Maine is considered in-state waste and can be taken to any landfill. This allows construction and demolition debris that doesn’t meet biomass burning standards to be brought into Maine and ultimately landfilled here.

Burning waste has clear benefits. But it should be done in a way that minimizes the negative consequences.